Max Von Sama, Captain of the Sama Airship

Max Von Sama is the explorer of the World of Sama, created by Max Dana. Her creator stays out of sight. Max Von Sama does the opposite: you’ll find her at the helm of her airship, in the observation deck, on the red dust of Mars.

She left the World of Sama in May 2012 aboard the Sama Airship, a retro-futuristic vessel of polished brass, photon engines and stubborn engineering.

Her mission has a name: Max Von Sama and the Samachine. Explore time and space across the Many Worlds, and find out why a universe this vast stays so silent.

The Fermi Paradox has followed her ever since. To find her way, she uses the Antikythera mechanism.

The Crew

She doesn’t travel alone. MetaSama keeps the ship running with a patience her captain can only admire. Born from the World of Sama, she knows the Airship better than anyone, and she asks the kind of questions that stay with you for days.

da-eYe Jr. keeps trying to improve things that weren’t broken. Small, curious, one-eyed, he is the heir of the original da-eYe, the observing eye Max Dana once drew on the walls of Paris. He fears nothing, least of all unintended consequences.

Between the two of them, the Airship usually reaches its destination. Usually.

The Journey to Kepler-186f, Mars, and Beyond

In April 2014, a few days after astronomers announced the discovery of Kepler-186f, an Earth-size planet 490 light-years away, Max set course for it. Along the way, the discoveries kept coming: Pluto revealed by New Horizons, Kepler-452b, the launch of Breakthrough Listen. She reported it all.

As she approached Kepler-186f, she found the planet wrapped in a strange magnetic field. The Airship turned back toward the inner solar system, and the journey continued by way of Mars. Today, it is somewhere between Mars and the Moon, close enough to see Earth clearly again.

Follow her journey to Kepler-186f →

Transmissions

She reports from the Airship on X, @MaxVonSama: real discoveries, strange signals, the occasional coffee-related incident. Time runs differently out there. A day on Earth may be a week aboard, or a split second. So she sometimes falls silent. Then a new transmission comes in.

Those who follow her are called Samayans. If you’re reading this, welcome aboard.